Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Pull the Trigger

SPOILERS FOR METAL GEAR SOLID 3 AND GUNGRAVE

Speaking of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, remember that amazing ending? Remember that part where our hero was asked, by the most important person in his life, to end theirs after having faced and defeated them in exhausting single combat? Remember how stunned you were when you realized that it was you, as the player, who had to pull the trigger in order to finish the game? Well, did you know that that moment was a complete ripoff of the ending to Gungrave, which did it better two years earlier?

Okay, maybe better is debatable, but that awe-inspiring moment of the player being forced to pull the trigger was, first of all, done already in Gungrave. Moreover, the memory that many people have of the MGS3 take is somewhat of a lie. It is apparently a little known fact that, in Snake Eater, Snake actually will fire the shot if left on his own. It might take about two minutes, and I'm sure it's not more than five. I know because, one time, I left the gun in his hand while I took a short bathroom break. It was my third time through the game, my second playthrough in one week, and I really needed a break after having to snipe a Kerotan, capture three unique food items, and defeat The Boss through stamina-kill, all before the bombers were supposed to arrive. When I came back, The Boss was dead and Snake was cut scene grappling with young Ocelot. I was quite surprised, but, just to be sure there had been no foul play, I replayed the fight and verified that, yes, Snake eventually does pull the trigger on his own.